Writing Russia: Voices of the Cutting Edge of Russian Literature Open Up About Truth and Transformation in their Contentious and Volatile Country May 22, 2012

Leonard Lopate will host the second major event at the NYPL to feature Russia's newest literary voices as they read from their award-winning works and answer questions about the truth and transformation they are part of in changing Russia. What is it like for writers facing the political and social complexity of the world's most vast and diverse country, to engage its powerful and contradictory cultural tradition? How does the newest generation of writers, just now taking center stage, react to and act upon the political, social and cultural norms they must confront, both today and in the future?

FEATURING:

Polina Klyukina A graduate of the Perm State Institute of Art and Culture in theatrical direction. She moved from the Ural mountains region to Moscow, where she simultaneously studied journalism at Moscow's Publishing University and writing at the prestigious Moscow Literary Institute. She currently works as a TV and print journalist. She traces her literary genealogy to Nabokov, Bunin, and the controversial contemporary writer Zakhar Prilepin (among others). Klyukina's stories cast light on a bleak underside of life in the new Russia that would otherwise remain unknown to many readers, especially in the West.

Sergei Shargunov A native Muscovite, he is the son of a priest who was also a social activist. While still a student at Moscow State University, he audaciously submitted stories to Russia's most established literary journal, Novy Mir... where they were soon printed He has established himself as one of the most important voices of his generation – as a writer, a journalist, and a sharply controversial political figure: he was the head of the youth wing of the “Homeland” party – until he was “delisted” for unflattering comments aimed at Vladimir Putin. His response? “I am glad this nightmare has ended and I can return to my extremist writings.” His views on contemporary literature are as combustible as his political ideas. He writes for numerous periodicals, political and literary, and hosts several radio programs.

Arslan Khasavov Khasavov studied both at Moscow University (Oriental and African studies) and at the Literary Institute. His work has been published in important Russian journals. Khasavov is a highly popular blogger, runs a newspaper column and, in particular, writes for the Russian BBC bureau on Chechnya, where his family lives. A Muslim by faith, Khasavov is intimately tied to Chechnya: “although I've never lived there for a single unbroken period, still, like it or not, it's my native land,” he says. “Five generations of my ancestors lie in the Braguny cemetery.” Khasavov's latest novel, “Sense,” is coming out in English translation this spring.

Igor Savelyev Born in 1983 into a family of writers in Ufa in the southern Urals, he still lives in his native city, working as a crime reporter for the local news agency. In 2004, his short novel Pale City became a cult classic for Russia's youth culture. Based on first-hand experience, the novel is an inside view of the new generation's yearning for independence, freedom and meaning. Critics have raved about Savelyev’s “masterful, finely chiseled style based on brilliant counterpoints, like a virtuoso music piece.” In his works, “realism is bordering on phantasmagoria, a striking sample of new-generation psychological prose.”

Yaroslava Pulinovich Still only 24, the native Siberian is already one of Russian's most prominent young playwrights, author of 11 plays and two screenplays. Much of her work has focused on the darker side of life in today's changed Russia, but more recent works have included an intriguingly folkloric play with an ironic adult voice and a well-orchestrated work that spans the past century of Russian history.

Our moderator, Leonard Lopate, is the foremost voice of “cultural New York” via his immensely popular NPR radio show and satellite radio. For years, he has given us the privilege of listening in on the best conversations with writers, actors, ex-presidents, dancers, scientists, comedians, historians, grammarians, curators and filmmakers. Mr. Lopate is a fascinating personality in his own right – his WNYC bio begins: “Leonard Lopate studied painting with Mark Rothko and hosted a gospel music show in the 70's and early 80's. He also marketed records for Slim Whitman and Boxcar Willie, and knows enough Cantonese to order the best dim sum in Chinatown.”

This event is brought to you by CAUSA ARTIUM, a NYC-based arts non-profit, in cooperation with the New York Public Library's World Languages Collection and the Debut Prize Foundation.

For over a decade, the Debut Prize has sought out young Russian-speaking literary talent the world over. Receiving as many as 70,000 submissions annually, Debut is a vast competition, one of Russia's elite literary honors and a landmark in the literary calendar, the brainchild of Andrei Skoch, a noted philanthropist, businessman and member of the Russian parliament.

For more information, see www.CausaArtium.org and www.DebutPrize.com.

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